Say What You Needa Say
by Advance4ever
Summary: May is participating in the final contest that will guarantee her a spot in the Grand Festival. But when Harley returns, she finds herself in a much tougher situation, which drags Ash in, and the pair find themselves stuck in a dastardly plot crafted by none other than the Cacturne fanatic. May's victory and the contest are on the line, will Ash or May save the day, or will both?
1. Harley Strikes Back

**This story will be composed of 3 chapters, timeline and location is up to the reader. Enjoy!**

Chapter 1: Smooth Criminal

"You ready to win your last ribbon to compete in the Grand Festival, May?" Ash asked his friend.

"Of course I am, more than ever," May winked at the boy and smiled.

"Pikapi pi!" Pikachu cheered for her friend, happy to see her so confident.

"Do you already know what Pokémon you are going to use?" Brock questioned the brunette.

"Yep," May nodded happily.

"Which would that be?" Max inquired.

May grinned and spoke, "I'm going to use Glaceon for this one. I know I'll win for sure if I use her."

"That's the spirit, May," Ash encouraged the brunette, grinning confidently and making a fist. May returned the gesture by smiling confidently as well, assuring she would win.

"Too bad that spirit will inevitably be crushed by moi," an all too familiar voice was heard behind the gang of five.

They all turned around and saw a man with long purple hair, who wore green clothes designed similar to a Cacturne. His cold blue eyes caused May to frown and the man only chuckled, "How lovely to see you stooges again, including you my sweet May."

May glared at him and made a fist, "You here to lose to me again Harley, when will you get lost and find something you're actually good at?"

"Ouch," Max commented while Ash, Brock, and Pikachu witnessed May taunt Harley.

Harley made a fist and grinded his teeth, "You little brat, I can guarantee that my victory will be certain this time. I will defeat you once and for all, foolish girl."

May crossed her arms and grinned slyly, "If I got a dollar for every time you said you were going to beat me, but end up losing, I would be a millionaire by now."

"Double ouch," Max said while Ash, Pikachu, and Brock couldn't help but chuckle.

Harley frowned and stomped on the ground, "You'll rue the day you ever crossed paths with me May, I'll be your ruination." The purple-haired teen then turned around and ran away, looking back at the brunette and smiling devilishly.

"Whatever," May showed a half-grin.

"May, lets head to the Pokémon Center and sign you up, forget about Harley," Brock recommended.

May turned around and nodded with a grin, "Yeah, I can't wait for this contest."

"Good, then let's go," Max told her sister.

"Race you guys there," Ash smiled and dashed off with Pikachu, not warning anyone.

"Hey Ash, wait up!" May yelled and ran behind the boy. Max and Brock quickly followed, they both were hesitant to run, but they had to catch up with the young trainer and coordinator.

After about 5 minutes of running, Ash made it inside the Pokémon Center first and smiled back at May, who arrived only two seconds after him. "I win," Ash smiled at her.

"I can't wait till the day I become faster than you Ash, and then we'll see who the loser is," May teased and grinned at him.

"You'll have to keep waiting, May," Ash winked at the brunette and she flashed a sly smile at him.

"Pika," Pikachu pointed to the counter.

"Right, lets walk over to the counter so I can sign up," May said and the pair walked over to the Nurse Joy at the counter.

Nurse Joy grinned happily and spoke, "Hello there, what may I help you with?"

"I would like to sign up for the contest coming up in the next hour," May handed her card to the nurse.

"Of course," Nurse Joy received it and inserted May's card inside a port of the appropriate size. May's ID photo appeared on it and after some typing and clicking, Nurse Joy removed the card and returned it to May. "There you go, good luck," the pink-haired woman smiled.

"Thank you," May put the card away and walked away from the counter.

"Well now that that's settled, what do we do till it's time for the contest?" Ash asked the sapphire-eyed girl.

"Actually Ash, I couldn't help but think about Harley. When we ran into him earlier, I couldn't but notice that there was a more sinister look in his eye," May expressed her thought on the run-in with Harley.

"He did seem more obnoxious than usual, but May, you stood your ground and showed that guy you are not intimidated by him," Ash grinned at her.

May sighed and replied, "But I was intimidated by him, for once I actually believe Harley might pull the right string and beat me. The look in his eyes hinted it," the brown-haired coordinator showed wariness in her blue eyes.

Ash took May's hand and squeezed it, the sapphire-eyed girl became surprised and barely managed to hold back the blush that tried to color her face. The auburn-eyed teen smiled and responded, "May, you have nothing to worry about. You've beaten Harley countless of times, you never let his dirty tricks get to you and you came out on top. I can assure that the case isn't any different here, you're stronger than ever and Harley won't stand a chance, no matter what he does. You're going to defeat Harley and win this contest."

"Pika pi pi pikachu," Pikachu added on, encouraging May like her trainer.

May grinned sheepishly and replied, "Thanks Ash, you always say the right thing at the right time. You don't know comfortable you make me when I feel uneasy," the sapphire-eyed girl giggled.

Ash fought back the blush trying to take over his face and said, "No problem May, that's what friends are for."

Suddenly, Brock and Max arrived at the Pokémon Center, panting heavily and looking at the trio in front of them. "What took you guys so long?" May raised an eyebrow when she asked.

"Lets just say, we're out of shape," Max answered.

The group of five began to laugh and smiled at each other. None of them could wait for the contest to get started.

* * *

**In another part of town…**

In a very dark room, a group of people spoke. Out of the shadows, Harley emerged and spoke, "So we remember the deal, don't we?"

"Of course, my purple-haired friend," a figure emerged from the shadows and revealed himself as James.

"It's a very promising deal," another figure chuckled and came out the shadows, revealing herself as Jessie.

"Rig da programming pair-up so tat you an da brunette twerp can fight each other in the battle round," a small figure appeared out of the shadows, who turned out to be Meowth.

"Then kidnap the coordinator twerp and keep her as a prisoner long enough for you to win the round," James stated.

"Since the rule is, if one of the competitors in the contest doesn't show up in the battle round, they get disqualified and the winner is the other competitor," Jessie pointed out while smiling cunningly.

"Don't farget pal, you also half ta keep yo part of da deal as well," Meowth pointed at Harley while frowning.

Harley chuckled and grinned, "No need to worry, I'll get the raven-haired boy's Pikachu the moment the chance pops up. I guarantee it."

"Perfect!" the Team Rocket Trio yelled simultaneously with joy. They held each other's hands and danced cheerfully, "We're gonna capture Pikachu, we're gonna capture Pikachu," they repeated as they danced.

Harley smirked and looked at the clock, _it's time, _the coordinator thought.

* * *

**During the beginning of the contest…**

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the town's local contest! I'm your host, Milian and I'm proud to present you the judges of this contest!" Milian declared and then turned to the judges behind her.

"Today, we have as judges, the lovely local Nurse Joy!" Milian screamed.

"A pleasure to be here," Nurse Joy smiled.

"The president of the Pokémon Fan Club, Mr. Sukizo!" Milian shouted.

"Hi there," Mr. Sukizo grinned.

"And Chief of the Pokémon Activities Committee, Mr. Contesta!" Milian exclaimed.

"It is honor," Mr. Contesta greeted.

"Now everyone, remember that the first round is the Appeal Round. The max score is 30, the coordinators with the highest scores will move on to the Battle Round and if they pull through, to the Semifinal Round, and last, but not least the Final Round. So why don't we get started!" Milian extended her left arm as shouted through the microphone.

The crowd roared with delight after Milian made her declaration. "Everybody, please give a big round of applause to one of the most talented coordinators known the world, please welcome Harley!" Milian welcomed the purple-haired coordinator, who ran out of the entrance and blew kisses at the audience.

The audience cheered happily for Harley, everyone except for the gang. "If only these people knew the real creepy Harley is, they wouldn't be praising him like some hero," Max crossed his arms in disgust.

"All people really care about when they come here is seeing the talents of coordinators Max, they remain oblivious to the type of person all these coordinators are, they don't know who is a good person and who isn't," Brock mentioned.

"Well, we know one coordinator with a pure heart, and it'll be her turn right after Harley's done," Ash crossed his arms and smiled with anticipation for May's performance.

"Pi pi pika pikachu," Pikachu also expressed the same anticipation as his trainer and began to watch Harley's performance.

Harley smirked and called out his Pokémon, "Show starts now, Cacturne!" Harley's Pokéball flew and from it, emerged an average-sized, green Pokémon. It had dark green spikes all over it and wore something very similar to a hat at the top of its head. Its eyes were yellow, but black dominated most its eye color nonetheless. The Pokémon gave the audience chills as it stood proudly on the middle of the stage.

"Cacturne, show your talent with Sunny Day!" Harley commanded.

Cacturne neared its hands together and left a small gap between them, "Caaacturne," the Pokémon said as a small ball of energy formed in the gap.

It glowed three different colors, changing color every few seconds. "Caaaaactuuuuurne!" it yelled and shot up the sphere of energy into the air. When it shot up, the sphere left a trail of red light and stopped midway to the roof. It had somehow become significantly larger and hovered above the ground. It emitted orange, red, or yellow rays depending on what color it was.

The light emitted by the Sunny Day technique left everyone awestruck, including Max, Brock, Ash, and Pikachu. In the locker room, May watched with amazement, "Wow, when did Harley learn those moves?"

Harley chuckled and stood confidently; he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, he made a command, "Solarbeam." With that Cacturne looked straight up at the energy ball and absorbed some light, gathering energy at the tip of its mouth.

"Caaaa," Cacturne moaned as it gathered energy. When it gathered enough, which was in a matter of seconds, it shouted out, "Cacturne!" and released a bright beam and shot it at the sphere of light. When it hit, the sphere burst and the beam was destroyed, but in the aftermath, the collision left a shower of rainbow sparkles.

Each sparkle was as bright as the rays emitted by the sphere, but the light emitted from the sparkles was rainbow and it left the audience fascinated. "Whoa," Max was shocked by the display Harley had shown.

"Who knew Harley had taught Cacturne such techniques," Brock was amazed.

"That's some skill, he's never shown talent like that before," Ash commented, just as surprised as his friends.

"Pikaaa….." Pikachu's eyes showed surprise, the mouse then realized this was going to be harder than they thought.

"No way," May was in disbelief.

"Finished," Harley took a bow with Cacturne.

"Wow, simply incredible. Folks, this is clearly what talented coordinator, judges what did you think?" Milian commented and then turned to the judges.

They each pressed a number and when the three were done, a large thirty was shown on the large screen above the 3 judges. "Phenomenal, a perfect score!" Milian cheered.

The audience roared with joy as Harley smirked and then thanked the crowd for their support. "That's a bit exaggerated," Max frowned.

"You have to admit Max, even though he is your sister's rival, he has a lot of skill," Brock admitted.

"This is getting interesting," Ash smiled.

"He got a perfect score, guess he deserved it, I have never seen anything like it," May complimented, admitting that Harley was good.

"A bright and colorful display," Nurse Joy commented.

"Something unique and different," Mr. Contesta added.

"Remarkable," Mr. Sukizo complimented.

"Thank you, thank you, I hope to see you all in the Battle Round," Harley smiled and spoke to the audience as he exited the stage.

When Harley left, Milian spoke, "Marvelous everyone, this is just the beginning of it though. Up next we have a very notable, young coordinator who has held top positions in previous Grand Festivals. Everyone please give a warm round of applause to, May!" Milian pointed her left arm at the entrance May was expected to come from.

"Oh boy, this is so exciting," Max became eager when Milian announced his sister's name. The others also showed the same eagerness as they waited for May to come out.

"My turn," May got up from her seat in the locker room and dashed out. As she ran to the stage, she ran into Harley.

"Time to lose sweetheart," Harley chuckled, but May ignored her and ran past him, pushing him out of the way.

May stuck her tongue out at him when she looked back, infuriating the male coordinator. "We'll see who has the last laugh at the end of the day May, one thing is certain though, it won't be you," he muttered and walked to the locker room.

The brunette arrived on the stage and waved at everyone, the crowd cheered when they saw her, including boys who wolf-whistled and complimented her. Making the brunette blush, Ash could hear some of these comments and shook it out of his head, refusing to let his feelings take over, but Pikachu couldn't help and snicker.

Ash sighed and spoke, "Let's just watch the performance pal."

May reached for a Pokéball and thought to herself, _I'm in it to win it, _"Glaceon, take the stage!" The brunette threw the Pokéball and the blue, feline-like Pokémon came out of the ball.

"Gla," it got on all fours and grinned confidently.

When it emerged, a few little blue sparkles could be seen, causing the crowd to become infatuated with the Pokémon's majestic appearance.

"Glaceon, begin with Rain Dance!" May pointed at the roof.

Glaceon nodded and shot a blue energy ball upward. Midway to the roof it exploded and emitted a blue light, when the light faded a black cloud was where the latter burst. From the cloud, rain drops heavily poured down on Glaceon and half of the stage. Glaceon stood proudly under the rain and the audience became further crazed by its regal appearance.

"You haven't seen anything yet," May smiled confidently. "Now use Ice Beam and then Mirror Coat!" the brunette shouted.

"Glaaaaaa!" Glaceon shot out Ice Beam and caused the raindrops to freeze, the rain drops began to glow blue and shined like diamonds until they dropped to the ground and cracked. It was like a shining blue hail dance. Then Glaceon began to glow brightly and reflected the blue light of the ice dance like an actual mirror. Glaceon had become something of a disco ball by reflecting the powerful blue shine of the ice dance, the light of Mirror Coat and the frozen Rain Dance made the room sparkle, it was like raining diamonds. The audience couldn't stop staring at the combination; it was out of this world.

"Humph," Harley shrugged as he looked at the screen in the locker room.

"Whoa…" Ash, Max, Pikachu, and Brock were all amazed like the rest of the audience.

"Finish with Iron Tail!" May commanded, but it wasn't an ordinary Iron Tail. When Glaceon jumped into the air and swung its iron trail, the tail shot out a powerful tail-shaped attack that obliterated the cloud and the gust made by the impact caused all the frozen raindrops to spread across the room like floating diamond shards. The crowd eagerly caught any of the small shards it could until they all vanished.

"Voila," May smiled confidently after wrapping up her performance.

"Unbelievable, truly something else!" Milian shouted at the top of her lungs. "Folks, you and I have agreed that that was spectacular, but let's see what the judges think."

Milian turned to the judges as they pressed a number. When they were all done, a large "30" appeared on the screen. "Yet another perfect score, has this town received the honor of hosting the contest with the most talented coordinators? I think so!" Milian stated happily.

"If I could, I would've given a higher score," Mr. Contesta said.

"The most beautiful thing I've ever seen," Nurse Joy added.

"Remarkable," Mr. Sukizo plainly complimented.

"That was one of the best combinations May has ever done," Max complimented his ster.

"She planned it out very well, I can tell," Brock smiled and nodded in approval.

"Pi pika pikachu," Pikachu said.

"That's right pal, it's one of the best combinations I've ever seen. I knew May could do it," Ash made a fist and grinned confidently as he gazed at the happy-looking brunette who waved at the audience. The auburn-eyed boy easily became infatuated as he stared, he couldn't explain the warm feeling surging inside him as he stared, but when he gained back his conscious, Ash shook it off and simply grinned.

"Better get back to the locker room," May said and returned Glaceon, thanking her for her performance. May waved at the audience one last time and winked at her friends, who were waving at her as well. She then rushed back to the locker room.

When she returned to the locker room, she didn't see Harley and she was glad that he wasn't there, after having accomplished something like that, she wasn't in the mood for fighting. The Appeal Round continued as many other coordinators performed. Some did fairly well, others did as good as May and Harley. When the Appeal Round finally ended, everyone waited for Milian to speak.

The host stood on the middle of the stage, smiling, "Well everyone, we've seen it all and boy was it beautiful, but now it is time to decide who moves on to the Battle Round. We've seen 16 talented coordinators perform today, but only 8 will move on; let us see who the lucky contestants are.

Milian and everyone else turned to the large screen and waited for the black screen to display the coordinators. "Harley and May are moving on for sure, only one other person got a 30 besides them," Max pointed out and the gang agreed with little boy.

Within 10 seconds, images of the coordinators began to appear and like Max said, among the very first to be revealed were May and Harley. When the screen showed who would be fighting who, the gang chuckled when they saw the results.

"Fighting Harley so soon…oh well," May commented when she saw the screen in the locker room. _Just remember what Ash told you, no way are you going to lose to Harley, _May reminded herself of what Ash said before the contest, that the brunette shouldn't worry about Harley. She hasn't beaten him before, she could do it again.

"May's going to plummet that flamboyant loser," Max smirked.

"This should be interesting, I can't wait to see how they both do, certainly Harley and May still have new tricks up their sleeves to show," Brock stated.

"I agree, May and Harley's battle will be a good one," Ash agreed with Brock.

Milian turned back to the audience and grinned, "Congratulations to the competitors who have moved on, we hope to see you here on the stage battling in out after the 5 minute break, till then everyone!" With that said, Milian exited the stage to take her own break.

"I'm going to go get a snack with Pikachu, I'll see you guys when the Battle Round starts," Ash told his friends, who nodded.

Ash exited the room and walked through the halls as his stomach grumbled. Pikachu sighed while Ash grinned sheepishly, "Guess watching the Appeal Round and cheering for May helped me build up an appetite, huh pal?"

"Piiii…" Pikachu sighed and grinned.

"I can't wait to see May's battle; she's going to do great!" Ash became excited just by thinking about May's battle.

"Pi pika pi pikachu pika," Pikachu smirked and then laughed.

Ash glared at Pikachu and spoke, "You know buddy. It's not funny to make fun of someone who has a crush."

"Pika," Pikachu apologized while Ash smiled in return. "Pi pika pi?" Pikachu questioned his partner.

"I don't know when I'll tell her pal, I want to, but I don't know how she'll react. I'm afraid she'll turn me down after being so dense about love for so long or what if she just thinks of me as a friend. What if she's too afraid of risking our friendship by dating me, there's just many reasons why should turn me down…" Ash became frustrated with the subject of May.

"Pika pi pika," Pikachu sighed.

"I wish I could tell her, but I just don't know…there's too much in the way. How will I ever find the strength to overcome all this frustration and tell her? I can battle Pokémon Champions and save the world, but I can't tell a girl what I feel…it's ju-," all of a sudden, something hit Ash and Pikachu from behind and knocked them out cold.

The pair dropped to the ground, unconscious. A mysterious figure then picked up the knocked out Pikachu and began to drag Ash.

* * *

"I wonder where Harley is, he hasn't been around since I did my performance. He's probably training," May spoke to no one in particular.

"Excuse me," a voice called out and May turned around.

The brunette saw a couple dressed very Hawaiian-like and the man next to the woman held a camera. They were both wearing sunglasses and seemed friendly. "How can I help you?" May asked them, wondering what they wanted.

"My husband and I are big fans of yours, your reputation exceeds you, you are known as far as Unova, my dear child," the red-haired woman clung onto her husband while talking.

"Really?" May raised an eyebrow, but was impressed by how well she was known.

"Yes, and we would like to take picture with you to take back home as a memory, am we?" the purple-haired man asked.

May smiled, she was proud of the accomplishments she had done, according to the pair, the brunette answered the friendly couple very politely, "I'd be happy to!"

"Perfect!" the couple cheered.

"Me first, honey," the woman told her husband and held onto May, surprising the brunette by how hard the woman pulled her.

"Smile," the man said as he prepared to take a shot.

May and the woman grinned happily, but they remained in the position as the man tried to fix his camera. He took various pictures of them, but said they weren't good enough. May became uneasy and spoke, "I don't mean to be rude, but how much longer will I have to be like this?"

The husband looked up from the camera and smiled at May, "You know what. I think it's the lightning. Why don't you come with us to a more suitable area for the photo, is that okay?"

"I guess," May felt a surge of suspicion grow inside her, but she accepted anyway.

"Great, let's go!" the woman cheered and pushed May forward, making the brunette uneasy.

After some walking, May and the tourist couple finally reached an empty room that the pair believed was perfect for the photo, which increased May's suspicion even further. "Alright, the Battle Round is going to start soon, let's take the picture," May told them and the couple nodded silently.

The woman got next to May like before and the man prepared to take picture, until the lights in the room were cut. May became alert and asked, "What's going on?"

Sinister laughs and Pokémon attacking could be heard, after some struggling, the sound of a body could be heard dropping.

* * *

"Brock, the Battle Round is starting in a minute and Ash still isn't back, I'm worried," Max told the older male.

Brock grinned and spoke, "Don't worry Max, Ash will be here soon enough, he probably got caught in a line for food." Max took Brock's words into mind and calmed down for now.

Milian ran to the middle of the stage, signaling that the Battle Round was about to begin. "I'm back everyone and I hope you're all ready for the Battle Round of the contest!"

The crowd cheered happily as Milian grinned and yelled, "Now that's what I like to hear!" She extended her arm upward and spoke, "The first battlers are Harley and May, according to the screen. Please welcome them back to the stage and prepare to witness an epic clash of skill!"

Milian's words caused the audience to roar in anticipation as Harley came out of one of the entrances. "Glad to see you all again," Harley waved with both arms.

"This is it," Brock spoke and watched with Max.

Harley got in his position while everyone waited for May to appear. After a minute, everyone began to wonder where May is, including Brock and Max. The audience was quiet and confused, they all wondered where May was, and even Milian became baffled.

"Where's May?" Max frowned and looked around.

"This is strange, May has never done something like this before," Brock mumbled as he placed his hand on his chin.

Milian looked around frantically and sighed, "It seems we have a problem folks. I hate to say this, but if May doesn't appear on the stage within 10 seconds, she will automatically be disqualified and Harley moves on to the Semifinals."

"No way!" Brock and Max yelled.

People gasped and other's eyes widened when they heard Milian. They all searched frantically for May throughout the room, but there was no sign of her. "10…" Milian said as people continued to shift their heads left and right. "9…8…7…" Milian stated and the people began to shake from the frustration. "6…5…" Milian spoke and everyone became even more worried.

* * *

Meanwhile, in another part of the contest building, a black-haired teen was tied to a chair and his head hung low, his eyes were closed, but when the light suddenly turned on, the boy slowly opened them. "What's going on?" Ash saw that he was in a room filled with shelves of Pokéballs. He looked around with heavy eyes, still recovering from the blow he received, but when he saw a beaten brunette girl next to him, his eyes instantly widened.

**That's it for now, hope you liked it so far, this is just the beginning so I apologize if it felt slow and it's only a short story. I'll update next weekend again. Stick around till then! Rememeber to review, PM or whatever lol. See ya guys, once again, hope you enjoyed it! **


	2. Operation Rescue

Chapter 2: Tell Me a Crime

"3…2…1…" Milian said, the final numbers she stated made Brock and Max's spines shiver. "Ladies and gentlemen, unfortunately, it seems May doesn't intend to make an appearance. The victory according to the rules, goes to Harley!" the woman yelled and pointed at the purple-haired coordinator.

The audience merely applauded, they were all the disappointed about the fact that they didn't get to see two amazing coordinators battle it out. Harley laughed and waved at the crowd, joyful about his position in the contest. Underneath that excited face though, hid a devious smirk, _Harley gets moved on to the semifinals, check. _

"Brock something isn't right about this," Max crossed his arms, upset about what just happened.

Brock crossed his arms as well, "I agree, something smells fishy here. First Ash disappears, then May doesn't show up and Harley moves on to the semifinals, something is very wrong with all this."

Max stood up and spoke with a confident voice, "Well then, this looks like a job for Max and Brock's Detective Agency!" the boy smiled, making a reference to the comment his sister made whenever they had a mystery.

"Then let's get on it," Brock made a fist and tagged along.

The pair then left their seats and exited the room, in search of Ash and May.

* * *

Ash began gritting his teeth and felt his blood boiling when he saw the brunette girl next to him. She had several cuts and bruises on her arms and legs, she a small tint of blood on the corner of lip, and her cheeks were very red. The girl hung her head low.

"May!" Ash yelled angrily. The room they were in was pretty dark, but Ash could still well enough through the faint lights of the room and saw the girl slowly lift her head up.

She gently opened her arms while moaning, "It feels like I got run over by a herd of Tauros." At first her vision was blurry, but then it cleared up and she saw her injuries. "What happened?" the girl became frightened when she saw the small yellow-green spots and cuts.

"May," Ash called out and the sapphire-eyed girl turned to him.

"Ash," the girl saw the boy with his hands and legs tied to a wooden chair, like her. "What's going?" the brunette showed a fearful face, "How did we end up here and like this?"

Ash frowned, seeing the scared look on May's face frustrated him, whoever did this to her was going to pay, _no one hurts my friends. _The auburn-eyed teen spoke with a stern tone, "I don't know what's going on, I don't even remember how I got here. I just woke up and found ourselves tied against these stupid chairs and I don't think Pikachu is even here," the boy looked around desperately for his partner. His attention shifted back to May and the boy began to talk, "Do you remember how you got here?"

May looked down at the ground and had a puzzled look, she began to recall everything that happened, "After Milian announced a short break before the Battle Round I was approached by…" then the girl's eyes widened and she gasped, "This couple wanted to take a picture with me, at first they tried in the locker room by they said the lightning was bad so we went somewhere else. Next thing I know I'm attacked and wake up with all these injuries."

Ash glared as he begun to picture it in his head, but his train of thought got halted by another voice, a female voice from what they could tell, "My, someone has a good memory," it said.

"It's not going to very useful in this case though," another voice said, this time it was male and it laughed very goofy-like.

"Who's there?!" Ash and May asked with furious voices.

"Prepare for trouble from within the dark," the female voice said.

"From beyond the stars, we've hit our mark," the male voice added.

"An evil as old as the galaxy," the woman mentioned

"Sent here to fulfill our destiny," the man said.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love," the woman spoke sinisterly.

"To extend our reach from the stars above," the man included.

The lights then went on completely and revealed too very recognizable faces. They both were the same uniform basically, but their most notables traits were the magenta and periwinkle hair.

"Jessie," the woman had her eyes closed when she said her name, but she had a very arrogant look on.

"And James," the man also had his eyes closed and spoke with a very conceited tone as he held a rose with his right hand.

"Anywhere there's peace in the universe," Jessie stated.

"Team Rocket," James said simply.

"Will be there to make everything worse," Jessie and James spoke in sync as they pointed at May and Ash.

"Team Rocket, why am I not surprised?!" Ash almost wanted to jump out of his seat when he saw them, but remembered he was tied down.

"What do you guys want, how and why did you bring us here?" May glared at them.

"Where's Pikachu?" Ash gave them a dirty look as he questioned.

"Pikachu is with Meowth somewhere else in this building. As to how we got you here, that's easy," Jessie crossed her arms while making her explanation.

"We knocked you out," James chuckled, "Although, you, twerpette put up some resistance against our Pokémon, which is why you have all those injuries."

"How dare you hurt one of my friends like that, you're going to pay for taking Pikachu and attacking May," Ash made fists and spoke with a serious voice.

"Honey, save it for later, we don't want to hurt you or your girlfriend again," another voice called out, it wasn't Meowth though, and it was much more sinister than Jessie and James. When the young pair turned to the right, where the entrance was, they saw Harley entering.

"Harley!" May almost wanted to jump out of her seat, but she knew she was tied down.

"Hello there," Harley chuckled as he stood between Jessie and James, and the trio beamed smirks at the duo.

Ash and May glared at the three and instantly realized that Team Rocket and Harley were working together. "Mind telling us how you got tangled with these crooks Harley, you've hit a new low," Ash mocked the professional, yet irritating coordinator.

"You could've at least done the job of ruining my coordinator career by yourself, but even that's too hard for you, isn't it?" May frowned angrily at her rival.

Harley began to twitch and spoke, "You brats don't get it do you. Time and time again, I've tried to foil you May, but to no avail. In the end, I realized I could no longer go on, until a new idea hit me, Team Rocket…" the purple-haired teen laughed evilly. "I tracked these two in particular because of the familiarity they already had with you, they agreed in helping me wreak havoc upon this contest just so you wouldn't win, in exchange for the capture of that beloved electric rat."

Ash and May were easily becoming more and more furious with each word. The raven-haired teen in particular, couldn't help but imagine getting up from his seat and pushing Harley against the wall while holding onto his collar.

"And we happily agreed. While Harley knocked you out and got Pikachu, twerp, we were doing our job of knocking you out, twerpette," Jessie chuckled with her arms still crossed.

"I think it worked out pretty well. Don't you?" James crossed his arms.

"You've already been disqualified May, our match already passed and since you didn't show up, they moved me up to the semifinals because the rules they have. I didn't even have to break a sweat in beating you, now I just have to guarantee my win by keeping you two to here until the contest is over at least," Harley crossed his arms and gave the pair a sly grin.

May could feel her blood boiling in angry while Ash clenched his fists. "You won't get away with this," the brunette gritted her teeth.

"Time for Phase 2," Harley reached for a Pokéball and released a Pokémon that reached Harley's waist. It was a round Pokémon that looked a lot like a Pokéball, except the colors were in reverse. "While Team Rocket and I are proceeding with our plan, this Electrode will stay guard and make sure you don't leave the room. If you try to escape, it'll use Explosion and blow you away," Harley smirked at them.

"And don't bother using your other Pokémon, we made sure to get them all after we knocked you out," Jessie showed them a brown bag with the Pokéballs sticking out at the bottom of it.

"Well, time to go, we'll see you two later," Harley chuckled and exited the room with Team Rocket, leaving the Electrode behind.

Ash and May sighed and frustration built up in both of them, they both felt a sense of hopelessness inside them after Harley and Team Rocket left.

* * *

"Brock, look what I found!" Max yelled as he kneeled down to pick up what he found.

Brock quickly ran through the empty hall to see what Max called him for. "What's up, Max?" Brock asked when he reached him.

"It's Ash's half of the Terracotta Ribbon," Max showed the half of the Terracotta Ribbon that Ash and May had broken in half to honor their friendship after giving a memorable performance.

Max handed it over to Brock and the young man examined it. "This is odd; Ash never goes around with this ribbon. It's probably one of his most treasured items," Brock held up and admired the shine from the centerpiece.

"If Ash always carries it around, then why didn't we find him along with it?" Max became concerned.

"I don't know, but now I'm starting to get a very heavy feeling that something happened to Ash and May too, this can't be coincidence, it's suspicious," Brock stated with a serious voice.

"As detectives, we can't believe in coincidences. How are we going to find them though?" Max said and copied a phrase he heard from a movie.

Brock reached for a Pokéball and spoke, "I know the perfect partner who can help us find them." The spiky-haired teen then said, "Come out, Marshtomp!"

"Marshtomp," a light-blue Pokémon with fin-like hands and orange pointed gills, the bipedal amphibious creature smiled as it stood in front of Brock and Max.

"Marshtomp, Ash, May, and Pikachu are missing. We need you to help us find them quick, we don't have much time," Brock spoke sternly.

Marshtomp nodded with a serious gaze. "How are we going to find them with Marshtomp, Brock?" Max inquired.

"Marshtomp's fins are like if they were radar remember? It'll be able to sense any movements made by Ash, May, or Pikachu," Brock pointed out.

"Right, how could I forget that?" Max grinned sheepishly and laughed. The pair then began to follow Marshtomp as the Water-type tried to help find their friends.

* * *

May let out a deep breath and had a sad look on, "How are we going to escape now? This was the last contest I needed to win in order to get into the Grand Festival and it's the last contest around," as the girl spoke, her voice became weak and tears began to fall from her cheeks.

Ash couldn't help but stare at her, the sadness May was feeling felt like it was entering Ash and the black-haired teen shared her pain. He looked at her with a pained expression and glistening eyes, for a few seconds Ash just stared at her, forgetting about Electrode and everything that was going on. All he wanted to do was get off the chair, walk over to her, and comfort her with his words and a hug. He hadn't seen May so helpless in a long time, the girl's pain was stabbing at his heart and it felt like Ash would break into tears once his heart burst from the stab.

The boy clenched his fists and shook his head, forcing back tears and regaining his composure. "Don't worry May," Ash spoke softly, causing the girl to turn to him, her face was pink from crying and there were visible tear stains on her cheeks.

The auburn-eyed teen smiled, "I'm going to get us out of this, I promise I won't let Harley get away with this and we'll find one way or another for you to get your ribbon. Just don't give up yet, we've been in worse and we've pulled through, so we can do it again, trust me."

May felt Ash's assuring words going into her head and then travel into her heart. His smile, his eyes, his voice, and his words hit her in the heart and just like that, she found new hope building up inside her. Tears streamed down her face, stinging the small cuts she had on her face, but she didn't care, Ash's assurance was all she needed to let go of the pain. It was always him, nobody else, that could make her forget about her pain and troubles, he didn't have to try doing even, his words were enough to make her feel better. _He's like an angel, always there, giving you hope, never abandoning you, Ash…_the girl thought in her mind.

"Thank you Ash, you've always been good at cheering people up, especially me," May gave a sheepish grin.

Ash grinned, "That's what I'm here for." Suddenly, the boy lifted himself up and the chair, surprising May and Electrode. "Next time, Team Rocket should tie me to the chair by the tendon and not underneath my knees," Ash said, criticizing Team Rocket's incompetence like usual and within 2 seconds, the boy dashed backward against the wall and the chair snapped, the wooden stile of the chair broke and force applied between Ash's legs and the wall allowed for the hind and front legs of the chair to snap as well.

The ropes then loosened and dropped to the ground along with the broken chair, "I should also remind them to get better quality chairs next time, maybe metal."

May and Electrode's eyes widened as well, but Electrode quickly tried to gain its composure and threatened to blow the place up. "Electrode," the Pokémon grinded its teeth and began charging energy.

"Not on my watch," Ash smiled and dashed behind furniture that was beside Electrode, the large piece of furniture was at least triple times taller. As Ash began pushing it, various Pokéballs began to fall and hit Electrode like rocks until the whole thing fell on him and knocked out the Electric-type. "Too slow, Electrode may be strong, but everyone knows it takes up a lot of time to charge up power," Ash smiled at the Electrode with swirl eyes, the unconscious Pokémon basically camouflaged among the pile of Pokeballs, which reached all the way to its face.

"Hey, don't forget me, Ash!" May called the boy.

"Don't worry, I've gotcha May," Ash grinned and ran over to her. The boy began untying the knots around her hands. May let out a happy smile as she held onto her wrists and rubbed them, seeing the marks of the rope on them, "That's much better," the girl commented as she rubbed her hands.

"Now just this," Ash began to untie the knots around her legs, May couldn't help but blush as Ash kneeled down, she became reminded of the position men take to propose. She imagined Ash in a tux, actually proposing to her with a diamond ring in his hand, she began even redder as she pictured Ash saying, "Will you marry me?" Her heart began to race and she felt her body warming up from the thought.

"May?" Ash motioned his hands in front of her, snapping the brunette out of her thought.

May shook her head to shake off the thought and blush, "Sorry Ash, I was thinking about something else."

Ash got confused by her expression, he could've sworn he saw her blush, but he quickly shook off the thought, "Well I finished untying the knots, let's get going."

May nodded and stood up as they ran out of the room. May begun to think of how silly it was to picture Ash proposing to a girl, _Ash proposing is the day when he'll understand love, which might never happen, at least for the next decade, _the brunette sighed at the new thought and continued with Ash out of the room.

Ash and May dashed out of the room and were relieved to be out. The auburn-eyed teen quickly shut the door behind him and smiled at May. As he walked away from the door, it suddenly flew out of its frame and crashed against the wall. The loud sound of the explosion caused the building to shake and it was felt all over the structure.

* * *

"What was that?" Max regained his balance after the shake and looked around.

"This just keeps getting stranger, but we're about to find soon," Brock said after he and Marshtomp got their balance back.

* * *

"That was quite a shake, folks. We'll have our staff check it out, but let us continue with the contest!" Milian calmed down any concerned people in the audience and the battle they momentarily paused continued.

* * *

Ash and May's eyes were wide, they were lucky to be on the left side of the doorframe, having narrowly dodged the flying door.

They both looked into the room that no longer had a door and found Electrode unconscious, covered in black smoke. "That was a little too late," Ash chuckled, but then turned to May, who still seemed rather frightened.

He looked at her carefully and stared at some of the wounds on her face and arms. "May, are you ok? You've been through a lot of pain today."

May smiled sweetly at Ash for his concern and replied, "I'm fine Ash, thanks to you," the sapphire-eyed girl grinned.

"Good, I was really worried about you when I woke up and saw you covered in wounds. I've never been so angry; I wanted to knock out the one responsible for causing you that. I can't stand watching my friends hurt," Ash grabbed her hand as a sign of affection and a slight blush appeared on his face.

May felt a slight blush overcoming her face as well, the next moment they couldn't help but embrace each other in a hug. A few tears fell on Ash's shoulder as the raven-haired hugged her tightly. "You're safe and sound May, I won't let anyone hurt you," Ash rubbed his hand on her back as May just held on to him.

"How sweet, sadly, I'm going to have to break it," a familiar voice said and the pair motioned their heads to the direction from which it came from. They both glared at him when they saw.

There stood Harley, with a menacing grin and a Pokéball in his hand.

* * *

"Marsh marshtomp," Marshtomp stood in front of a door.

"This is the control room," Max read the label on the door.

"If Ash, May, or Pikachu are in there I wouldn't be surprised. Control over something is the first thing bad guys want, there is a good reason why our perpetrators might be in there, let's go in, Max," Brock stated and Max agreed.

The tall male turned the doorknob and barged in. Like Brock said, they found their perpetrator playing with the controls and a yellow mouse hogtied and struggling to free itself.

"Meowth!" Max and Brock shouted.

Meowth quickly turned his attention from the controls to the pair and the only thing the worried cat got out was, "Uh oh…"

**I had free time to write this chapter, so that's the reason for the early update. It was short, but I hope you guys liked it. See you in the next update, the final chapter of this story!**


	3. Say It!

Chapter 3: You and I

"What's going on here?" Brock frowned when he saw Meowth and Pikachu.

"Yikes, cova's blown now!" Meowth felt his hairs stand up when he saw Brock and Max.

"Get over here, Meowth!" Max yelled and ran over to the cat.

Meowth formed a quick smirk and spoke, "You can try!" The Normal-type then suddenly pulled down a lever on the long panel of buttons that controlled the light effects of the contest. When the cat furiously pulled it down, the lever instantly broke.

The whole building became dark, including the room. "He's turned the power off!" Brock said as he, Marshtomp and Max tried to rely on their other senses to get around.

* * *

In the stadium, people began to panic and question the cause of this abrupt incident. Millian's face became concerned as the two battlers in front of her also stopped. She looked around and muttered, "Something's not right, first that sudden shake and now this. Security must be investigating right now."

* * *

"Meowth, get back here!" Max tried to capture the cat with Brock and Marshtomp as they ran around the dark room for him, relying on the sound of Meowth's paws to determine his position. Meowth proved to be exceptionally fast though, years of running away from cops, twerps, and Pikachu's Electric-types finally paid off.

Among the darkness of the room, Pikachu struggled to free himself while Meowth was busy with Brock and Max. The mouse was becoming impatient and felt nothing but anger towards Team Rocket for tying him up like this; he could only wonder what they did to his trainer. Thanks to the mouse's better vision and sensitive hearing, it could make out the difficult time Brock and Max were having pursuing mouth in its mind and Pikachu began charging up electricity as it flex its muscles and threatened to use all its power to break free.

"Pi…ka…chuuuuuuu!" Pikachu exclaimed, alarming everyone in the room. With that the mouse felt the rope tear as he shot out a Thunderbolt, lightning up the whole room, Brock and Max narrowly dodged the attack and much to the pair's relief, it hit Meowth.

The rope snapped and broke, thanks to the electricity which burned the rope and made it easier for the mouse to break through. "Pika!" Pikachu cheered gleefully now that it was free.

"I'm barbacued Meowt," Meowth felt tremendous pain inside him as he lay on the floor, his whole fur was black thanks to the blast from Thunderbolt.

"Great job, Pikachu, I'm sorry we couldn't arrive earlier," Brock told the mouse.

"Pi pika," Pikachu answered happily; glad his friends were here now.

"So what's the big idea, Meowth, where's Ash and my sister?!" Max glared at the cat who still lay on the floor.

"Pi?" Pikachu looked at Brock.

"Ash, May, and you have been missing for over an hour, we searched everywhere for you and we wouldn't have found you without Marshtomp's help," Brock looked down at Marshtomp and grinned.

"Marsh marshtomp," Marshtomp grinned at Brock and Pikachu.

"Sadly, we haven't been able to find Ash or May yet. May got disqualified from the contest because she hadn't shown up for her battle with Harley and since we found Meowth with you, I believe Team Rocket has a hand in this," Brock stated the obvious.

Pikachu frowned and looked down at Meowth from Brock's shoulder, Max also stood angrily in front of Meowth. "Tell us what's going on Meowth!" Max ordered.

"I'm not tellin," Meowth gave a stubborn answer.

"Piiiiikaaaaa," Pikachu spoke with a threatening voice and emitted sparks from its cheeks.

Meowth's eyes went wide when it saw Pikachu and replied, "Ok ok, I'll tell ya, jus don't shock me."

"Good, then you might as well tell us while we search for Ash and May," Brock pulled out a flashlight from a bag lying on the floor with a large red "R".

The spiky-haired teen lit it up and they all nodded in agreement.

* * *

Harley chuckled when the power went out and spoke sinisterly, "Looks like our cover has been blown. The other two must have found Meowth and proceeded to Plan B."

"What's Plan B?" Ash asked with a stern tone and frowned.

* * *

All of a sudden, back in the stadium two lights turned on and focused on two individuals who stood on a scaffold. Everyone became frightened when they saw the magenta-haired woman and the periwinkle-haired man.

"Welcome everyone!" Jessie extended her right arm happily.

"We are today's entertainment!" James extended his left arm eagerly.

"Team Rocket!" people in the audience screamed and murmured at the presence of the notorious criminal organization.

"So, you crooks must be behind the whole disturbance going on," Millian frowned when she saw the pair above her.

People in the audience quickly stood up and tried to run to the exit, shouting in fear, many of the people there were aware of how dangerous the villainous syndicate was.

Jessie and James chuckled as they tried to escape, "If you dare leave this building, we can assure you that we'll blow this whole building up!" Jessie shouted.

The people turned to Team Rocket with wide eyes and stood where they were. "That's more like it, Jessie smirked.

James raised an eyebrow and whispered, "But Jessie, we never planted bombs in the building."

"Shut up James, as long as we have fear on our side, this people won't dare to defy us. Making them believe they have their lives on the line will ensure victory for Team Rocket," Jessie laughed maliciously as she looked down at the audience while James sighed, still not sure if they could win if their biggest weapon was a bluff.

* * *

Back with Ash and May, the pair looked at Harley with uncertain gazes, not knowing what to expect. Harley reached for a Pokeball and spoke, "Let's see how strong the Champion of the Battle Frontier is, can he defend his princess from the destined winner of this battle?"

"I don't have any Pokémon," Ash gritted his teeth after responding.

"Oops," Harley chuckled and threw his Pokeball.

"Harley, stop this!" May yelled when she realized what Harley's intentions were.

The Pokémon that emerged from Harley's Pokeball was Banette. It was a black, humanoid, doll-like Pokémon possessed with pure hatred. It had three spikes on its head and a long zigzag-shaped ribbon hanging down from its head. It had a zipper-like mouth. Banette grinned and showed his long, three-fingered hands and stood on its short, stubby legs. It also had a yellow, brush-like tail, which resembled a needle stuck into its body.

"Banette, use Shadow Ball!" Harley pointed at May through the darkness.

Since fighting in the dark was its specialty, Banette had no issue shooting the attack. "Baneeee!" Banette cried and released Shadow ball.

The pair had a hard time seeing the black-colored energy attack through the darkness, but Ash quickly determined its aim and yelled, "May, look out!"

"Huh?" May didn't see the Shadow Ball coming and the only thing she saw was Ash getting in front of her. A second later, the sound of a blast could be heard and she could hear Ash groan in pain as he slightly leaned his body forward.

"Ash!" May screamed in horror.

"It's alright, I'm fine, it just stung a little," Ash chuckled and stood up straight again, wincing from the pain he felt.

Harley grinded his teeth threw the darkness, "I'm not only mad at the fact that you made it out that room in one piece, but also because now I doubt I'll be able to get my ribbon. May, you always ruin everything, and for that you'll pay dearly!" Harley extended his left arm forward and made a command, "Try this on for size. Banette, use Thunder!"

"Ash, don't!" May shouted, trying to stop the boy from defending her, but Ash pushed her away and took the Electric-type attack.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!" Ash yelled in pain as the electricity ran through his body.

May's eyes became horrified when she saw Ash, and thanks to the light of Thunder, she could also see the evil in Harley's eyes as Banette shocked Ash. When Banette stopped, Ash dropped to his knees and shook from the pain. The room became dark again, but Harley could tell where May was and made another command, "Banette, show May how much frustration we've held back with Shadow Claw!"

"Fine Harley, if it's me you want, then come get me!" May shouted, ready to take the attack.

"Water Gun!" a voice called out and a powerful stream of pressurized water shot Banette against wall before it could hit May, knocking it out in the process.

"What the…" Harley said, but before he could finish the voice spoke again.

"How dare you hurt my friends like that," and before Harley could turn around completely a powerful punch sent the man against the wall and knocked the coordinator out.

May was surprised to see who it had been that punched Harley and saved her and Ash from his Banette. "Brock," the brunette looked at him, the anger in his eyes was something she had never seen before, out of the four, Brock was always the calmest, never rushing into arguments and violence, and he never broke his barrier of a pacifist until this moment. The one Harley forced him to break.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, May," Brock grinned sheepishly as the flashlight pointed at her, the anger in his eyes was quickly fading.

"Ash, are you alright," Max ran over to the boy who had been quiet and remained on his knees.

"Pikapi," Pikachu looked at Ash with a sad gaze.

"Boy, this is some mess," Meowth could see the broken door and smudges caused from Electrode's blast thanks to the flashlight. The cat had been forced to become a prisoner of Brock and Max and follow them here.

Brock walked over to Ash and helped him up while May also rushed over to him as well. "Ash let me help you up," Brock reached his hand to his friend.

"Ash, are you alright," May felt tears swell in her eyes; the brunette couldn't stand to see her friend hurt like this. She couldn't ignore the injuries he had and the fact that he smelled like something that had been burned.

Ash lifted his head and gave them a smile; he grabbed Brock's hand and pulled himself up. "I'm ok guys, don't worry. We're just glad to see you." but the flinch he did after saying that worried his friends.

"We're glad to see you guys again too," Max became relieved when he saw Ash and his sister again.

Brock gave Ash a stern look and spoke; "It was thanks to Marshtomp that we were able to find you in the nick of time, but now I think we should head back to the stadium, something tells me this isn't over, right Meowth?" the tanned boy looked down at the cat.

"Now why woulda say tat?" Meowth laughed nervously.

"Team Rocket has been helping Harley ensure his victory; we got knocked out by them and Harley and were taken captive. We escaped, but then Harley showed up," May explained everything to Brock.

"They won't get away with this," Max gritted his teeth.

"Let's go, we don't have time," Ash stood up straight, feeling slight pain the process.

They all agreed and ran in the direction that led to the stadium, leaving Harley and Banette behind. Meowth, of course, had no choice, but to follow them. On the way, May spoke to Ash, "Ash, you could've gotten seriously hurt back there, what were you thinking," May frowned at him.

"Sorry if I worried you, but I knew it was you that Harley wanted so I defended you. If I hadn't been paralyzed by Thunder, I would've stopped Shadow Claw too," Ash told her, grinning sheepishly.

"Why do you always have to play the hero?" the sapphire-eyed girl sighed and smiled sheepishly as well.

"I'm just looking out for you," Ash winked at her, making the girl blush slightly.

_I just hope you always come back to me after you do something like that; _May gave the boy a worried smile as they ran. She recollected the moments Ash defended her from Harley and comforted her in the room they got trapped in, she just couldn't afford to lose him, he meant more than he could imagine to her. Such a valuable friend can't be found again and May just kept thinking of how Ash almost always took the leap for her.

When they entered the stadium they all gasped when they saw the fearful audience and Team Rocket looking over them. "Team Rocket, what do you think you're doing?!" Ash yelled at them, alerting everyone in the room since he came from nowhere.

When Jessie and James saw Ash and the gang, they couldn't help but let their eyes get wide in surprise, "It's the twerps, and they're free!" they screamed simultaneously.

The audience became confused when they saw the gang, but were surprised when they saw May among the group, wondering exactly what was going on.

"Give us back our Pokémon and give up!" Ash spat at them.

_Who is this boy, _Millian wondered and when she looked up at Team Rocket, she could tell they were afraid of him.

"Everyone, this contest has been a setup done by Harley and Team Rocket. They have been working together to make sure May lost and Harley would win. They took May hostage this whole time, that's why she didn't show up in the Battle Round, they are also responsible for the tremor from earlier and the fact that there are no lights working!" Brock revealed to the crowd while shouting.

"Let's stop them here once and for all. Harley's already been taken care of, now help us stop Team Rocket!" Max stood beside Brock and in front of the audience, screaming at them as well.

As the pair spoke, the audience quickly began to frown and threatened to take out their Pokeballs to attack Team Rocket. Everyone, including Millian became infuriated by the revelation.

"Hold it, remember about the bombs!" Jessie yelled at them, using her triumph card to keep them under control.

"What bombs?" May raised an eyebrow.

"Don't rememba tat bein in da plan," Meowth touched his chin, confusing the gang.

"You try to attack us and we'll blow up this whole building with the bombs we planted," James smirked.

"Marshtomp, try to detect the presence of any explosives around the building with your gills. I'm sure you will sense any if there are any," Brock was suspicious of Team Rocket's statement.

Ash was also skeptical about their statement; even he knew Team Rocket wasn't sophisticated enough for something like that, even with Harley's help. "We've got you twerps in a knot now," Jessie smiled sinisterly down at Ash and his friends.

"Jessie, James, mind tellin me wen we planted bombs?" Meowth ran past the gang and asked them.

Jessie and James's pupils shrunk and tried to speak as softly to him as possible. "Meowth, there are no bombs, we're just bluffing so they don't attack us," James said.

"Now shut up, before you screw up this part of the mission too," Jessie added.

Thanks to his sensitive hearing, Meowth managed to hear it, but Pikachu also heard it and grinned sneakily. Marshtomp also stopped trying to detect the presence of explosives and grinned, "That's what I thought," Ash and Brock spoke in unison after hearing the news from their respective Pokémon.

"What's up Ash?" May looked at him puzzled.

Ash smiled at May and began to yell at the audience, since he would explain it to May in the process. "Everyone, there are no bombs in the building, thanks to my Pikachu's sensitive hearing, we managed to hear Team Rocket that it's all a bluff to protect themselves."

"That's right and my Marshtomp has confirmed that there are no explosives, since it wasn't able to sense anything with its gills," Brock added his comment into the mix.

"Well what do you know," Max laughed and grinned mischievously at Team Rocket.

"Lying has always been their best way to get around," May grinned mischievously as well and looked at Team Rocket.

"Uh-oh," Jessie, James, and Meowth said at the same time.

The audience roared in anger and they dropped their fears and began to take out their Pokémon to attack Team Rocket. "Not again," James spoke fearfully as he hid his face behind his hands.

"Looks like we to fight. Go Seviper!" Jessie yelled and threw her Pokeball.

James nodded and called out his Pokémon, "Go Carnivine!"

"If that's how they want," Ash smirked and Pikachu understood his words, the mouse jumped onto the ground and smirked as well.

"Marshtomp, get ready too," Brock ordered and the Water-type nodded.

Seviper, the snake-like Pokémon emerged from its Pokeball and glared at his common opponents while Carnivine emerged, but first embraced James happily and bite the Rocket's head. "Carnivine, bite them, not me!" James managed to get out while being stuck in Carnivine's bite.

"Car," Carnivine let go and got beside Seviper on the battlefield, frowning at his opponents.

"Seviper," Seviper also stood menacingly.

"Ready when you are, Brock," Ash smiled at his longtime friend.

"Ready," Brock grinned.

May and Max stepped back to let the two older figures handle Team Rocket while the audience decided to watch.

"Let's end this quick, Seviper, use Bite on Pikachu!" Jessie ordered.

"Carnivine, use Bullet Seed on Marshtomp!" James commanded.

"Marshtomp, counter with Mud Shot!" Brock demanded.

"Pikachu, dodged and then use Quick Attack!" Ash instructed.

Seviper lunged itself at Pikachu, but the mouse's superior skill allowed to easily sidestep and bashed itself against the snake, sending it flying against the ground. Carnivine shot out a barrage of small energy bullets while Marshtomp easily countered with the thicker barrage of mud that shot out from its mouth. The two attacks clashed and cancelled each other out.

"Now Marshtomp, use Tackle on Carnivine!" Brock pointed at James's Pokémon.

"Pikachu, you use Iron Tail on Seviper!" Ash instructed.

"Carnivine, fight back again with Bullet Seed!" James countered.

"Seviper, you counter with Poison Tail!" Jessie demanded.

"Marshtomp, use Protect while charging," Brock smiled after easily countering.

Marshtomp formed a barrier in front of itself and avoided the Bullet Seed. The Ground-type then easily bashed Carnivine and sent it flying. As Meowth watched it spoke, "Tis is gettin dangerous, I should move outta way before I get hit."

Unfortunately, Carnivine dropped right on top of the cat as he tried to move away. The larger weight of Carnivine left Meowth stuck on the ground with Carnivine knocked out on top. "Too late," Meowth mumbled, feeling his body getting squashed by the much larger Carnivine.

Pikachu and Seviper charged at each other and used their signature tail attacks. At first they entered a standstill and a small spark could be seen forming between the two attacks, in the end though, Pikachu added more power and overwhelmed Seviper, sending the snake flying toward the scaffold the Rockets were in.

"This is not good!" Jessie and James held each other seconds before Seviper hit the wooden scaffold and the trio fell right on top of Carnivine and Meowth. As they fell, the bag of Pokeballs Jessie had shown earlier flew into the air.

"I got it!" May ran over to the dropping bag and caught it perfectly, the girl grinned proud of herself. She turned to Ash and the auburn-eyed teen gave her a thumbs up, both of them became relieved to have their Pokémon back.

A small cloud of dust formed around Team Rocket and when it cleared, it revealed the swirl eyes of the 5 members. The audience couldn't help but laugh while Ash, May, Max, and Brock smiled.

"The jig is up," Max crossed his arms as he stared at them with his friends.

"I don't think so," an evil voice said and the next thing heard was the scream of a girl.

Ash, Max, Brock, and the rest of the people in the room turned to the source and saw Harley with his arms wrapped around May, one of them wrapped itself around her arms and body and the other arm covered her mouth. The bag of Pokeballs also dropped to the floor near their feet and beside them was Banette.

"You kids have foiled my plans completely, it has all broken apart and now my rep as a coordinator has been tarnished, all because of you," Harley looked from the gang to May when he said the last comment.

"Harley, stop this!" Ash shouted, anger filling up inside him while the audience and Millian quickly acknowledged the fact that Harley had gone nuts.

"Let go of my sister!" Max yelled beginning to shake from the fear of what Harley might do to May.

"This is where it stops!" Brock gritted his teeth.

"Not until the fat lady sings!" Harley spat back.

"Let go, you'll be stopped anyway when the cops arrive," Millian glared at him and reached for her cell phone.

Harley smirked and spoke, "If any of you try to call the police, I'll make sure the girl is left at the mercy of my Banette. It is recommended you don't do anything, here let me show a demonstration. Banette, Frustration!"

Harley lifted the arm covering May's mouth and Banette charged at her stomach and bashed at it with his head, the Ghost-type began punching, stomping, and kicking, making May squeal in pain. When Banette finished, Harley covered her mouth again.

The brunette could only cry in pain as everyone watched in horror. Ash then had an idea strike him out of the enormous amount of anger building in his head. He raven-haired teen sneaked away from the center with Pikachu as Harley was distracted from the amusement he saw in watching May get attacked.

"I've tried everything; I trained to my fullest to come out on top of my May, that didn't work. When I tried to use mind tricks that didn't pull through either, I even tried to turn a new leaf, but my grudge against May wouldn't let me. I had to defeat her one way or another; I trained even harder, nothing again. In the end, my last resort was teaming up with a bunch of clowns I actually thought I could rely on, now I know why they were never successful at capturing Pokémon," Harley snarled at the crowd as he spoke, his anger building up more and more.

"I'm tired of this series of fateful defeats by some amateur brunette!" Harley yelled and squeezed May to hurt her slightly, but the brunette held the pain in.

"He's…lost it," Max felt tears fall down his cheeks as Brock pulled him close and watched in anger along with everyone else.

"Game over," Harley chuckled.

"For you," the voice of May's greatest friend was heard behind Harley and the next thing he felt was jab that caused him to let go of May. Before Banette could react, an Iron Tail swung against the Ghost-type and made him crash against the ground as dust rose.

Harley moved away while placing his hand on the back part where he got jabbed, the coordinator felt tears swell up from the pain he felt in his back, but he continued his aggressive attitude.

Ash grabbed May and pulled her close, the brunette was surprised to see herself in his arms, but she felt the pain from Harley's aggression being replaced by Ash's protection. The girl had tears streaming down her cheeks as Ash looked at Harley with a glare.

"Just because Romeo saved Juliet doesn't mean it's over, I'll make you feel my wrath!" Harley reached for 4 Pokeballs to attack with.

"Has that guy lost it," Jessie had been looking on with James, Meowth, Seviper, and Carnivine the whole time.

"Even we know when to give up," James commented.

"Uh-oh, look out!" Meowth yelled.

"Pikachu, Thunder, send Harley and Team Rocket out of here!" Ash yelled.

Pikachu jumped into the air and screamed, "Piiiiiikaaaachuuuuu!" And with that, a powerful blast of electricity shot at Harley before the male coordinator could react. He was blasted towards Team Rocket and when they made impact, a large explosion was produced and the villainous group blasted off through the roof and into the sky.

"That hurt," Harley whined with his purple hair all frizzy.

"You're telling us?" Team Rocket asked sarcastically with their eyes shut.

"Blast it!" Harley shouted.

"Team Rocket's blasting off again!" Team Rocket yelled as Harley and Team Rocket shot off in opposite directions.

The crowd cheered in happiness as the sunlight found its way into the dark stadium while Brock, Max, and Ash became relieved with how the situation turned out. "You alright May?" Ash looked down at May, who was still hiding in his chest.

May gently lift her head up and wiped the tears from her cheeks away and put up a gentle grin, "Now that you're here, I'm."

With that Ash hugged the brunette and she did as well while the crowd cheered for them. Only Max, Brock, and Pikachu were puzzled by their actions, but after a long day, there was no reason why the two shouldn't be hugging.

* * *

Later that day, Ash watched the sunset on a cliff with Pikachu. "All's well that ends well, huh Pikachu?" Ash mentioned.

"Pi," Pikachu simply nodded, still surprised by how come Ash was after a day of mayhem, the mouse had never seen his best friend so mad before, but all the yellow creature could think was that was over and everything turned out fine.

"Mind if I join you?" May's voice was heard and the pair turned around to see a girl smiling.

"Of course not," Ash grinned at her as May sat down.

May, too smiled as she stared at the sunset and Pikachu could only assume that, like Ash, she was glad it was over. "I want to thank you again Ash, for comforting and saving me throughout that whole situation," May spoke softly.

"No need to thank me May, I'm just glad you're ok, I never expected things to get so out of control, but you pulled through. Everything worked out in the end and the contest got moved to the day after tomorrow, so now you can participate without any interruptions," Ash remarked.

Completely ignoring the second half of his statement, May replied, "Ash you're a hero."

Ash became surprised by her comment and couldn't help but blush, "Gee I don't know about that," he grinned sheepishly.

"You are in my mind. I admire you more than anyone because of what you do, you always seem to put a grin on my face when there's no hope, you pull through every difficult situation and come back better than ever, you're not afraid to risk yourself for others. When you saved me from Harley, I was afraid and upset, but I know you did it because you care about me like your other friends. When you renewed my hope while we were in that room, I couldn't think of anyone else who could have renewed my spirits like you did. To be honest it felt like you were being a protective boyfriend when you hugged me after Harley got blasted off and how upset you got when he was hurting me, but thank you for that, for looking out for me and helping me. And I'm not just talking about today," May's face became red and grinned at him with an embarrassed expression.

Ash turned as red as a tomato when May finished speaking and smiled at her nervously. He stared at the sunset for a moment and then turned back to May, he knew why he had been so defensive of May today and he knew why he was blushing after May said all that and the only words that came into his mind were, _now or never. _

"May…there's something I have to tell you," Ash said to her.

May gave him a baffled look and asked, "Sure, what is it Ash?"

Ash sighed and let his courage take control, "May, I've had feelings for you some time now, feelings like love and lately, all I've wanted to do was tell you that. I love you, May, that's why I got so mad when Harley attacked you, because I couldn't stand seeing the one I love be treated like that. Throughout this whole time we've traveled together, I've encouraged you; I've helped you with whatever you needed. Moments like the Terracotta Contest, moments when you were uncertain about yourself and needed my encouragement, helped build these feelings and I fell in love with you. I didn't tell you this earlier because I was always afraid of what you might think, I'm not the first person you think of when it comes to love because I didn't understand it until these feelings for you grew from our moments together a-," the boy got interrupted by the brunette.

"Stop right there, Ash," the girl told him, her response worried the boy because he couldn't tell if it meant something good was about to happen or if something bad was about to happen.

May giggled and felt a red tint slowly appear on her face. She reached for Ash's hand and grinned, "This is my response," then she leaned her face closer to Ash's and without wasting another second, they kissed.

At first, both were surprised by how this turned out; nonetheless, it was an amazing feeling. May never imagined she'd be kissing the person in her life that least understood love, for months she had tried to get over it, but now all she wanted was this moment to last.

Ash never pictured sharing a moment, he had feared that he would be beaten to it by Drew or she just couldn't accept it out of fear of ruining their friendship. But here they were now, they were sharing a tender kiss neither wanted to end, the squeezed each other's hands softly and let time pass by.

Pikachu only watched with wide eyes, the mouse had been completely forgotten about by the two humans and couldn't help but laugh nervously as the pair kissed. Pikachu also thought, he'd never see the day.

**Harley came off a bit more evil than I intended, but whatever. If any of you were wondering in what period does this take place in the anime, there is no exact period, it's up to you. You can believe its during the AG Series or even after AG or DP series since James has Carnivine and Ash and May already competed in the Terracotta Contest. Honestly though, this chapter felt rushed and I know I could've added more detail and stuff, but it's only a short story, nothing like One Love, One Heart or AW, but let's hope you guys liked it. One other thing I have to be honest about though, this story wants to make me write a whole new lengthy fanfic where Ash and May get together, but I'll save that for when I'm done with Advanced Wishes. Remember to review, pm etc. I recommend you stick around for next weekend, because Advanced Wishes will be back and I'm more than excited to get back to it. I have tons of new ideas thanks to some help from readers and well through thinking when I'm bored lol. Hope you guys enjoyed this short fanfic and come back next week for Advanced Wishes!**


End file.
